MEGa MRI

Today was another crazy day. Sorry for no update yesterday. Don't know if you saw the comment, but our friend did well in surgery and is getting good hugs from his sweet little girl!

Yesterday was nutso...They came in, early in the morning, to take me for my MEG (Magnetoencephalogram). There are about eight of these machines in the entire U.S. which is one of the main reasons we came to this hospital. It is the test that should be able to pinpoint much more specifically where the seizures are originating. So, they walk in the room and ask if I have any metal in my mouth. I have two permanent retainers. They told me they would have to cancel the scan until I could have them removed. What?? I asked if they had a way to remove them. No! So, what should we do? Gosh, ma'am, we don't know. B reminded me that we were next door to the Dental School. So, I called the ortho department and they sent a student over to remove them. I was told if they were out by 12:30p, then I could have the scan done yesterday. She finished at 12:22p. However, they said it would have to wait until today.

B had an early morning appt. and my scan was scheduled for 8:30a. So, they came to get me (said it would take about an hour). B got back from his appt. and was able to meet me at the MEG scan. Then, they took all of the leads off my head and sent me for an MRI when the MEG was completed. I had a bunch of MRIs done in Dallas, but they needed one done with MEG protocol. I assumed it was about 11ish when they finished the MRI (it was after 1pm)!!! Thought I was hungry...that explained it. Also, they didn't have to put the leads back in because I have had so many seizures while here, they don't need to capture anymore on the EEG.

As we were getting off the elevator, I looked over and saw my sweet friend with her three little ones in the waiting room. So, the girls jumped on the guerney with me and rode to the room. When we got to the room, one of my Mom's dear friends from elementary school was waiting in the room for us. She had lunch, flowers, and a gift for me to give to one of the precious staff members here that helped us get in for this visit. Then, one of the nurses needed to come in and redo my IV. So, I had two sweet little girls sitting in my lap, bouncing, singing, laughing, and helping me eat my lunch as the nurse was trying to get the IV placed in my arm again. So, it was wonderful, mass chaos for a while. Then, my epileptologist walked down the hall and said he'd be back in a little bit to give me updates from the scan. Therefore, everyone but B left, but not before a group picture.

We assumed it would be a quick visit with the doc. B had an appt at 3:30p. to get to...The doc and his team spent over an hour and a half in here with us. Wow!! B completely missed his appt. and wasn't even able to step out to call his client and tell them he couldn't make it. I felt terrible. However, I praise the Lord that I have a husband that is so amazing and sacrificial that he was willing to stay here with me to get all of the info from the doc.

As of now, they are saying that they still aren't able to pinpoint the exact location. So, they believe I will need to come back, have electrodes implanted directly on my brain, and if they find a specific location, remove that...so, it's still up in the air for right now. However, they have one more test to do tomorrow. It is called an Ictal Spect. I had it done in Dallas, but they want to do one here, too. The way it works: They have a Radioactive Isotope sitting at their side. They have to inject it within the first 60 seconds of the seizure starting. If they miss that window, it is a loss and we have to wait for the next one. So, it is quite critical. They will order the isotope at 8am Friday, which means that it should arrive around 10am. I need to have had the scan by 11am for the results to be read in time tomorrow. Therefore, I need to have a seizure at about 10:05am Friday. Of all the random prayers, we would appreciate your help on that one...

Because they are still so stumped as to the origination of the seizures, they will take my case to conference tomorrow afternoon. That means that the three main epileptologists and the nuerosurgeon will look at all of my records, scans, etc., and argue with each other for a while on the best option. So, we expect to see my epileptologist around 3ish tomorrow afternoon with his (their) recommendation on the best option for getting rid of the seizures. He implied today that he still believes surgery is going to be the option.

He was walking down the hall this evening and we stopped him to say hello. He is a Proud Democrat, his dad was Secretary of State for PA for over 20 years, etc. We've had a few short conversations about politics. However, tonight he came in the room and spent almost an hour telling us how to fix the U.S. I was afraid to argue with him and then I realized he won't actually have the knife. From that point on, the three of us had fun arguing about who the next president should be and why. Something cool we learned about him is that he has an eight year old daughter that he adopted from China!!! He showed us pictures!! Such a cutie. Those Asian eyes just get me every time.

We learned that my head would be shaved completely if I had to have the surgery. Ben has offered to shave his head if I have the surgery. I still say the true test is when Mom shaves her head!! ; ) Though I look quite frightening, this is a pic of me with the doc (he's already shaved his head for me-ha ha)!!

So, I should be released tomorrow evening. We plan to go to PF Chang's when we get out of here. However, it will probably be so late that we will need to stay in Houston. So, we're trying to find a place to stay tomorrow night and we should be home Saturday.

Please pray:
*for the results of the scans to come back with more conclusive evidence
*for a seizure to occur in the appropriate timing for the Ictal Spect
*wisdom for the docs
*willingness and humility on the docs' part to think outside of the box
*that we can get the appt. moved up even sooner with Mayo